


Beneath the Mask

by Browa123



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Ghosts, Gen, Phantom Thieves - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24534097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browa123/pseuds/Browa123
Summary: On a quest to expose a terrifying truth behind a murder, Danny takes the road less traveled for the sake of avenging his father. Through elaborate and showy heists, he exposes the crimes of some of the most dangerous wrongdoers hiding in plain sight.However, he didn't anticipate becoming the greatest thief in the world as a result.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Beneath the Mask

**Author's Note:**

> Expansion of a Phic Phight 2020 fill I completed in April. Specifically the second prompt.

A shadow, tall and looming with dark eyes, looks down on his much smaller form with disgust. The same monster had been haunting him for years now, and it always came to him when he was most vulnerable.

Danny feels his chest seize up just at the presence of the shadow, as the disgusted look twists into an eerie grin. Yellow fog seems to surround the beast as its looming presence overtakes him, growing closer with every heavy breath.

“It would be in both our best interests if you kept your mouth shut,” the monster slurs. Its deranged voice echoes around the foggy room in a mantra, filling Danny’s head and making him feel heavier.

He begins to choke on the fog in the room, the shadow standing above him oppressively with a fiendish smirk.

“Besides. Even if you did tell them the truth, the masses wouldn’t listen to you. They’ve already decided who will be punished for this crime, and there’s nothing a mere boy like you can do to change the outcome,” seethes the shadow.

The room begins to spin as Danny loses air, the thick fog being too heavy to breathe in. Through the faded walls of the room, thousands upon thousands of eyes stare down on him, looking at him with scrutiny.

Danny can’t say anything to them, what could he? The shadow is too powerful, and he’s just some stupid teen who saw something he shouldn’t have. Even if he wanted to say something, the heavy fog was too suffocating to speak, near choking him.

“Guilty.”

A cacophony of voices shout the word into the room. They declare the verdict on repeat, the eyes all staring down on him with oppressive force in their gaze. He can’t fight them, he can’t fight anyone, he’s useless.

The fog grows overwhelmingly heavy in his lungs, the sound of his own asphyxiation the last thing he hears before everything cuts to black…

“Danny!”

Suddenly, the world is light again. Danny blinks awake with an overwhelming sense of tiredness, only to realize he’s facing the ceiling. The plush mattress under his back allows him to realize he’s in bed, and the foggy room had been a dream. More of a nightmare, really. A recurring one that had been plaguing him for years now.

It was a reminder of what happened at the college reunion being held in Wisconsin. Detective Vlad Masters had hosted the event to reunite with his graduating class, which included his parents. 

Danny and his older sister Jazz were dragged along for the event as a form of family bonding and looking back on the old days. But the reunion was hardly a happy memory for Danny. The event had marked its place firmly as the worst day of his life, because his father was murdered that evening.

Jack Fenton, a boisterous and excitable inventor, passed out suddenly at the dessert table. By the time the paramedics arrived, it was already too late. Jack had passed away the moment he fell over in a dead sleep, and the atmosphere of the party had been completely tarnished.

“Danny!” his mother’s voice comes from downstairs. “Are you awake yet? 

Right. That’s what was happening today. Danny had gotten so caught up in the past that he’d forgotten he should be getting ready to go to his first day of classes. With a sigh, the boy gets to his feet and stretches out his back.

He meanders over to his closet, opening the door and pulling out his usual outfit. Worn jeans and a red t-shirt, like he’d always worn, but with the months beginning to grow colder, he throws a faded blue jacket on top to protect his arms from the chill.

Now dressed, Danny makes his way down the stairs where his mother is waiting. Ever since Jazz had moved out to pursue psychology at some prestigious overseas university, it had just been the two of them in the house.

It’s too quiet in this old place without his father around to lighten up the mood…

“Good morning, sweetheart. I made you some pancakes,” Maddie offers, sliding a few of the flapjacks onto the plate in front of him.

“Thanks mom,” he replies, yawning tiredly as he pulls out the chair and takes a seat at the table. Smacking his lips a few times, he reaches for the syrup and gives the pancakes a healthy dousing of syrup.

Maddie shakes her head at the pool of syrup taking up her son’s plate. “Just like his father,” she sighs sadly, before a forlorn look takes over her features. Danny can’t help but feel the same way as the topic makes the atmosphere in the room heavier.

It had been years since his father had passed away, but the wounds still felt fresh and sharp. He could tell his mother felt the same way about the incident, her own professions in forensic science rendered useless on that day.

Anyone would be too overcome with emotions to investigate the corpse of their spouse, anyway. Danny doesn’t blame her for still being badly hurt by the topic. She felt so overwhelmed with how fast the case had resolved, not having the energy to weigh in at the time. It still burns in his chest too, for entirely different reasons than his mother’s.

“So,” Maddie coughs a moment to clear the air a bit. “Are you excited for your first day of college? You’ve been quite vocal about becoming an astronaut for a long time now…”

Danny nods. His backpack is already packed upstairs, and the bus to Amity Park’s local college wouldn’t be arriving for a while. He’d be studying both Astronomy for the next few years of his life, before applying for the space program.

Even if the space program only takes applicants every two years, he’d do his best to stay in shape enough to qualify and make sure to be well read on many different languages, all of which being requirements to be an astronaut in the eventual future.

Needless to say, the next few years of his life were going to be packed if he wanted to reach his dream. He shouldn’t think about nightmares and the past too much.

At least he’d still be with his friend group over lunch. Sam and Tucker both planned on going to the same college, but none of them really had the same classes, each branching off on a different path now that there wasn’t a set curriculum to follow every day.

Tucker planned on majoring in Computer Science, of course. He also had a minor in engineering, planning on making his own tech when he grew up. The only thing you needed to make Tucker happy was a computer that needed to be reworked from the hard drive up and he’d have a blast doing it.

Sam, on the other hand, had taken more of a shine to Political Science. With how outwardly vocal she was with all sorts of political topics, the idea of working in the field seemed to spark a new determination in her. She still kept the gothic aesthetic of course, but took more to formal looking dark wear like coat-tail suits with the slightest touches including a bat broach.

Just because they were growing up didn’t mean they’d break apart, but it was obvious that these college years would bring many changes with them. Changes to take Danny’s mind off his quiet home life just a little bit.

It’s too quiet around here anyway… maybe college will bring about something new and exciting, more than just pursuing his dreams.

Danny finishes his pancakes and gives his mother a hug goodbye before running up the stairs and grabbing his bag. Moments later, his runners pound against the cement as he rushes to the bus stop, arriving just in time to hear the rumbling engine of the vehicle.

The same rumbling continues as the bus weaves through the neighborhood. It’s not much different than the bus to school last year, but still with slight changes as people of various age groups boarded the bus.

Danny catches his faded reflection in the window as various houses move past him. He looks as tired as he feels, the constant nightmares causing him to lose sleep the past few years leaving him unfocused as the scenery blurs together. The only constant is his tired face as the hum of the engine is soon ignored as well.

He arrives at the Amity Park residential college faster than he expects. The building is rather modest, like the rest of the town really, and not all that large. Still, there is quite the prestigious amount of professors that prefer the smaller and more rural student body teaching here, so Danny has faith in his decision to move here.

Besides, he can’t well leave his mother living alone in the state she’s in. And, it also means he doesn’t have to pay residence if he lives at home. The bonus is that it keeps him from having to work part time in order to pay for things like those.

Danny walks into the college, taking in the entranceway before being roughly smacked on the back. Jolting, he turns around to meet Tucker’s forest green eyes.

“Hey man, you finally made it over here!” Tucker chuckles jovially, gripping his friend’s shoulder and smiling widely. Sam stands behind him adjusting the bat-shaped broach on her chest.

“Still can’t believe my parents told me they wouldn’t let me go to college if I didn’t start dressing more professionally…” she mutters under her breath as she messes with the pin.

“Well, we’re all here now, so let’s make the next few years of our lives the best we can!” Tucker declares, pulling out a phone and roping the trio in for a group selfie. 

Danny laughs along awkwardly, but participates in the group photo. Sam just rolls her eyes. To think they’d make it this far together after all the bullying and prejudice in grade school. It stirs a bit of excitement into the atmosphere and Tucker sends the others the photo.

“Hell yeah! Now things can get started. Just take it in guys, it’s college!” Tucker declares happily. “We’re in nerd turf now, and it’s time to become top of the line with our smarts!”

“Compared to the cookie cutter jocks and popular kids that high school cranked out on top of us? I’m already feeling ready to shove it in their faces once we get the ball rolling,” Sam agrees, folding her arms over her chest.

“So, we’re meeting up at my place after classes today, right?” Danny reminds the two. It had been planned in advance, Danny would hold a sleepover at his place with his best friends to celebrate getting this far.

“Well duh, my folks still don’t like either of you and Tucker’s parents are doing their own thing today, where else would we celebrate?” Sam teases. It isn’t a particularly funny quip, but it does elicit a few snickers from the group.

“Well, nine on the dot, let’s get to class, guys,” Danny tells the pair, before they all wave and set off in their own directions.

The day blurs after that. Danny does his best to pay attention to the professor, but his notes seem to blur into nonsense on the page. His mind is on other things right now, leaving his mind to wander into the darker corners for the third time today.

He knows it’s because of the regret. He knows that he regrets his actions on that day his father was murdered more than anything else in the world. It’s a deep seeded regret that would never leave him for the rest of his life.

Because he let his father’s murderer get away.

He saw it happen on that day. The real killer had poisoned the dessert itself, not the drinks. The real killer knew that his father would demolish the fudge on display in seconds, and would wash it down with a glass of punch. The killer knew that the innocent woman would hand him the glass allowing herself to be framed for the deed.

The killer knew that the forensic scientist present would be too overcome to give a proper investigation. The killer knew that no other police would be dispatched to the scene, because there was already a detective present.

The killer is the detective. Danny saw the bastard do it. He watched Vlad Masters mix something into the fudge batter while it was being made. He followed Vlad Masters down the hall where he stashed the empty poison container in the bag of the framed woman, wearing gloves to disguise their fingerprints.

Danny could only look on in horror as Vlad Masters staged his crime and “solved” it to make himself look like the good guy while simultaniously getting away with murder. Thus the seed of his regret had been planted.

Danny saw it all, but he didn’t say a word. Even if he tried to, the people around him would ignore him. Detective Masters was renowned and had solved the case in a way that satisfied the officials and higher ups. No further investigation was needed.

There was a motive, a method and a murder. As far as the district cares, Harriet Chin killed Jack Fenton. Danny could do nothing, say nothing. Even though he wanted to, he had frozen up inside, the pressure too much to bear in order to speak out against one of the most prestigious detectives in America and perhaps the world.

Danny’s thoughts are again interrupted, this time by the sounds of chairs scraping across the ground and various chattering students. The lecture must have finished while he was reminiscing.

Shaking himself off, Danny closes his notebook and stuffs it harshly back in his bag before standing up and heading out the door.

He promised to meet his friends at his house, so he scurries off again to catch the bus before it leaves without him. He shakes himself out as he boards the vehicle again, moving to sit with Sam and Tucker in the back.

The two make idle chit chat about their new professors and class objectives while Danny remains silent. Seeing as he wasn’t paying too much attention, he didn’t really have anything to add, letting the conversation fade to white noise in the background as the bus moves along the pavement toward home.

Maddie welcomes Danny home with a tight hug, letting him and his friends into the home with a smile. Tucker finds the nearest bean bag chair and flops onto it while Sam sticks to just sitting on the couch.

“I’ll have dinner ready in just a few moments,” Maddie tells the group. “Just hang tight, maybe you kids can put on a movie in the meantime.”

The three share a look with access granted to the television to watch whatever they want. The consensus is unanimous the moment Tucker whispers “Dead Teacher marathon?”

The group laughs at the cheap horror tricks used to try making things scary in the movie the whole night, having dinner and snacks all the way up until midnight. It was a rather positive and uplifting night all together, and Danny couldn’t help but cherish the memory.

Still. The house had gone dark as a result of the late hour, and the atmosphere of horror from the movies, no matter how crappy the special effects, still loomed in the air. Tucker gets out of the bean bag and looks into the kitchen.

“No.” Danny tells the other boy firmly.

“Come on, man. You’re mom has to be asleep by now, and it’s only to take a peek!” the other boy begs, tugging on the sleeve of Danny’s jacket.

“We’re not allowed down there. It’s where dad used to work. I’m pretty sure the basement’s been locked since he passed away,” Danny hisses in turn, shoving Tucker off him in an agitated manner.

“I know, but it’s your dad’s! Wouldn’t be at least a bit of closure to see what he was working on before he passed away?” Tucker insists.

“I agree with Tucker,” Sam decides. “If there’s something down there that helps you move on, it might be worth it to see what he was up to.”

“Maybe we can even finish whatever he was working on down there, I’m sure it would put his soul to rest if his son carried on his legacy,” Tucker butts in again, giving Danny another playful nudge toward the door.

Sam maneuvers around the other two and looks to the door leading to the basement. Supposedly, there was a secret lab down there that Danny’s father used to invent all kinds of wacky and outlandish gadgets, that hadn’t seen the light of day in years.

It only takes a light turn of the doorknob to open the creaky door, letting the light left in the kitchen to bleed into the darkness downstairs. Even Danny can’t help but be curious as to what lurks at the bottom of the stairs.

“...we still shouldn’t go down there,” he mutters, trying to keep his voice down in case his mother was still awake upstairs.

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Tucker nudges Danny’s shoulder. “Besides, we won’t be long. Just a look around, in and out, see what’s down there, just like that!”

“Besides, it’s a secret lab. Who knows what kind of things your father wanted to make down there?” Sam joins in.

Danny can only let out a sigh. There’s no arguing with those two when their hearts are set on something. “Alright, just a quick in and out, but that’s it.”

With their courage gathered, the trio of friends head down the dusty stairs, minding the creaking noise in the metal steps and attempting to keep quiet. Danny grips the rail, hoping there isn’t any rust that would scar his hands. Although, he’d take a few rust cuts over falling down the stairs…

“Hold on, I’ll find a light switch,” Sam declares, feeling along the wall as she reaches the bottom of the stairwell. Her footsteps thump lightly against the metal grating as she moves along the wall, before a sharp click brings the room to life.

What Danny finds in that old laboratory changes his life forever.


End file.
